CHAPTER THREE

 

“I knew it. I knew it!” Fourteen-year-old Prem crowed triumphantly when they reached the couple standing under the tree. “I told you I saw someone with a parachute coming down in our yard, Priya.”

“Well, it sure looks like that someone will need a new parachute,” his twin sister giggled. “It would appear that he and the parachute didn’t quite make it to the ground together.”

“Hi dude. My name’s Prem,” her brother greeted the stranger enthusiastically. “And the loud mouth next to me is my twin sister, Priyanka.” He extended a fist to Brendon and the older guy promptly fist bumped him. “I see that you've already met our sister, Savita."

“Hello Prem and hello Priyanka. I’m Brendon. It’s so nice to meet you both.”

“We're delighted to meet you too.” Priya stretched her hand out, opting for a hand shake instead of the masculine fist bump. “You can call me Priya; it's a lot easier to say than Priyanka anyways.” She fell silent, a pensive look etched on her pretty face as she studied the handsome stranger. “You look familiar,” she said. “I feel like I’ve seen you before, but I just can’t place where.”

“I get that a lot,” Brendon grinned. “I must have one of those faces.”

The young girl continued to study him for a second longer and then shrugged. “I guess so,” she muttered unconvinced.

“So … Savita, Priya and Prem,” Brendon said, turning to the siblings. “Those are all pretty cool names. Are you guys Indian?"

“You can bet your parathas we’re Indian,” Prem answered proudly. “Half of the population on this island is of Indian descent. Dots not feathers,” he added, chuckling in amusement at his own clever remark.

“Prem, that is such a stupid saying,” Priya scowled at him.

“It’s not stupid,” he objected loftily

. “It’s a rather useful differentiation. There are so many dumb people out there in the world who don’t know the difference.”

“Well, thankfully, I do know the difference,” Brendon acknowledged, enjoying the lilting tones of their voices. “I love your accents by the way. It has a nice Caribbean flavor with a faint British twinge to it. I did read in one of the travel brochures that this island was a British colony at one time.”

“British imperialism is now a thing of the past, thank goodness.” Savita stated proudly. “Now everything on this island belongs to us since we gained our independence in 1966.” She pursed her lips at him and added peevishly, “And you’re the one with the accent, not us.”

“Ah, point taken,” he grinned. “I guess that I have to remember that I’m not in States anymore.”

“You’re from the States?” Priya squealed. “What part?”

“Northern California … San Francisco to be exact.”

“We visited San Francisco a couple of years ago,” Prem said. “It’s a pretty fun city.”

“Yeah, it was pretty fun alright,” Priya chortled. “Especially when we rode the cable cars.” She turned to her brother. “Remember what happened when we were riding the car to Fisherman’s Wharf?”

“Oh no, not that story again,” Prem groaned.

Brendon turned a curious look in Priya’s direction. “What happened? Did the car break down?”

“No, something much funnier happened. You see, as the car was chugging along, this random lady walked on to the tracks and decided to stop right there. She was just a few feet from the car and wouldn’t move. She must’ve been high or something because she just stood there oblivious to the fact that a cable car was coming. The driver honked the horn several times and then he turned to us. …” Priya burst into a fit of giggles and slapped her knee before continuing. “He turned to us and said … ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re about to find out just how we make Rice-A-Roni.’ She erupted into another fit of giggles. “How we make Rice-A-Roni,” she repeated. “Get it?”

Prem glared at his twin. “Please excuse my sister’s warped sense of humor. She gets a kick out of telling that story over and over again.”

“You have to admit that it’s a funny story,” Priya chortled. She continued unperturbed, “So just how did you end up in our backyard, Brendon? Don’t tell me that the trade winds blew you here all the way from California.”

“Stop heckling the poor chap, Priya.” Prem shot Brendon an apologetic look. “So, what really happened?” he asked. “Did you get separated from the other skydivers?”

“Like the ones over there?” Priya pointed to the hills behind them. “Are they part of the group you were with?”

“Whoa, slow down you two!” Savita exclaimed, reining in her excited siblings. “Give Brendon a chance to answer your questions, for goodness sake.” She looked in the direction that her sister was pointing and, sure enough, there were three figures cresting the hill, pulling colorful parachutes behind them.

“That’s alright. I understand their curiosity,” Brendon smiled. “Like you said earlier, it's not every day that someone crash lands in your mango tree.”

“So that’s what happened.” Priya hooted with laughter. “Well, that explains all those leaves sticking out of your hair. For a second there, I thought that you were something my sister had planted in her garden years ago that only just now sprang to life.”

“Ha, ha, good one,” Brendon chuckled good-naturedly. “It so happens that an unexpected gust of wind blew me off course as I was getting ready to land in a field just a few miles down the road from here. Before I knew what was happening, I was skimming the tops of trees and finally ended up right there.” He nodded towards the nearest mango tree. “Your lovely sister was kind enough to rescue me.”

“It was no big deal,” Savita said modestly. “I merely helped cut you down, that’s all.”

“But it is a big deal,” he contradicted her gently. “As much as it embarrasses me to say it, I needed rescuing and you did exactly that.”

“Well consider yourself lucky that you didn’t land in those guava trees over there.” Priya nodded to another grove of fruit trees about a half a mile from where they were standing. “A group of mischievous monkeys live there and they don’t like anyone invading their space. They’ve been known to toss guavas at people passing by.”

“Really?” Brendon glanced warily at the trees as if expecting a horde of wild monkeys to come charging at him.

“Pay no attention to my silly sister,” Prem said quickly. “She’s got a wicked imagination and likes to exaggerate sometimes. Those monkeys are quite harmless.” He drew circles by his head to indicate that he thought his sister was crazy.

“You didn’t think so when you came home that stains all over your school uniform,” Priya giggled. “You cried for an hour after that.”

“I was only seven years old at the time,” her brother retorted. “And I was just trying to pick some guavas when those stupid monkeys started pelting them at me.”

“And they had pretty good aim” Priya laughed, squeezing in one more dig at her twin before turning back to Brendon. “Well as long as you stay clear of that tree, you’ll be fine. The only real danger that we face on this island is from the two-legged kind.”

Brendon gave her a puzzled look. “You mean human beings?” he asked.

“Yes,” Priya’s tone grew serious as she continued. “I’m referring to the people who come here and try to change the way we live, especially the greedy investors that our father is always ranting about. He ---”

“Priya don’t bore our guest with our island politics,” Savita cut in quickly. She turned her gaze back to the group of people on the hill and noticed that they were starting to spread out in different directions. “Hey, it looks like the rest of your gang's looking for you,” she said. “They must be wondering where you disappeared to.”

Brendon turned to look at the figures on the hill. “You're right. I better let them know that I'm okay before they send out a search party for me. But I don't have my cell phone with me. I left it in my backpack back at the center. Do you mind if I use your phone?”

“Sure, no problem. You're welcome to use our land line in the house since Savi never keeps her cell phone with her,” Priya offered.

“And when she does have it, she sometimes forgets to charge it,” Prem added.

“You both know that I don’t care much for cell phones,” Savita glared at her younger siblings. “They’re too much of a distraction. Besides if anyone needs me, they know where to find me.”

“Well, I for one can’t wait to have my own phone,” Prem grinned. “Daddy said that Priya and I will be allowed to have our own when we turn sixteen.”

“Sixteen?” Brenda gave him an incredulous look. “There are kids much younger than you back in my country that can’t seem to function without a cell phone.”

“Not here,” Savita shook her head vigorously. “Parents on the island do not want their kids to become slaves to technology.”

“Yeah, they’re all about the outdoors … you know fresh air, going for walks and all that stuff,” Priya added. “It’s actually not too bad.”

“Speak for yourself,” Prem snorted. “I’m going to enjoy having a cell phone.”

“That’s only because you want to take stupid selfies to send to Kamla Benson,” Priya retorted. She turned her attention back to Brendon, admiration reflected in her eyes as she looked up at his face. “You're good-looking,” she said boldly. “Pity, you're not from around here. My sister Savita could use a boyfriend. She’s so ---”

“Priya!” Savita interrupted her sister before she could say anything else embarrassing. “Why don't you and your brother take Brendon into the house and show him where the phone is. I'm going to finish up here.”

“Okay, come on Brendon,” Prem beckoned to the smiling guy. “We better let Savi get back to her gardening. She gets cranky if she doesn't spend at least half the day with her plants. I swear sometimes you'd think that she was born right here in this garden.”

“Wait a minute!” Priya stooped quickly to pick up some of the fruit that had fallen to the ground. “Here, take a couple of these mangoes with you. These are by far the juiciest ones on the island. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Thanks, Priya. I bet these are delicious,” Brendon gave her a grateful smile as he stuffed the fruit into his pockets.

Savita breathed a sigh of relief when he turned to follow her siblings towards the house. It had been a while since she’d felt this nervous around a guy and it was not a feeling that she liked. She plugged her earphones back into her ears and turned her attention back to her garden as she knelt in front of a tomato plant. She tried to focus on the weeds, but a pair of piercing blue eyes kept popping up everywhere she looked, making it difficult for her to continue her work.

“Savita Ramotar,” she addressed herself sternly. “You're twenty-four years old and not some silly, easily infatuated teenager. Forget about him, he's a tourist and only here for a short time anyway.”

Ten minutes later, she’d successfully cleared the few remaining weeds from the vegetable patch and was about to begin picking the ripened tomatoes from the vines when she felt a gentle tug at her right ear. Startled, she spun around, only to find Brendon kneeling behind her, her earphone dangling in his hand.

“My friends are waiting for me out front, but I wanted to say good bye before I left and to thank you again, Savita,” his voice was soft against her ear.

She could smell the faint scent of his cologne as he leaned closer and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. It was a crisp, fresh scent with a hint of citrus undertones and she breathed in deeply, wanting to remember it forever. Her heart began to thump wildly and she closed her eyes briefly, willing her body to resist whatever mad attraction she was feeling for him. When she reopened her eyes, she found herself staring into the deep, blue orbs of his.

“Oh, y-you d-didn’t have to,” she stuttered. “I really didn’t do much. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” She edged away from him slowly, afraid to touch him for she knew that any physical contact could ignite whatever was smoldering between them.

“That’s not the only reason,” he admitted softly. “I also wanted to invite you to dinner tomorrow night … sort of as a thank you for rescuing me.” He grasped her fingers, unmindful of the dirt and mulch that still covered her hands, and pulled her gently to her feet.

“Um, I’m not sure I can make it,” she said slowly, trying to think of a good excuse, but coming up short. “I, um, already have plans for tomorrow night and I can’t break them,” she finished lamely.

“Oh …” His shoulders slumped in disappointment. “That’s too bad. Well, how about Sunday night then?”

Part of her wanted so badly to accept his invitation, but the more rational part of her took over. “Sorry, but I can’t.”

“You have plans then too?”

“Sort of.”

“I see,” he said slowly. “Well, I guess I’d better get going then. It was nice to meet you Savita. I was really hoping I could see you again, but apparently that’s not going to happen.”

Something in his manner told her that he wasn’t used to being turned down and she steeled herself to meet his probing gaze without wavering. On the outside she was calm and collected, but on the inside, she was a jumble of nerves and she prayed that he couldn’t hear the loud hammering of her heart. He reached out suddenly, pulling her gently towards him. Before she had time to react, he cupped her face in his hands and covered her mouth with his. It was a gentle kiss, but one that hinted at a deeper passion and it left her breathless at the end.

“Take care pretty lady,” he whispered.

She could only watch mutely as he turned and sprinted across the yard, leaving her standing there holding on to the trunk of the mango tree for support, in case her suddenly weak knees decided to fail her.